What is the Digital Transformation Profile of Your Enterprise?

From traditionalist to trailblazer, each enterprise has a digital transformation profile. What’s yours and are you leading the race?

﻿The digital transformation race is heating up. Our new study conducted with 451 research showed that Asia Pacific leads the world in terms of digital transformation maturity. More than half of organizations across this region already have a formal digital transformation strategy—ahead of enterprises in North America and Europe.

With more enterprises taking this trend seriously, it’s time to take stock of where your business is on the journey. By knowing where you are in the current landscape, you stand a better chance of charting out an effective transformation roadmap to blaze ahead.

In our study of the region’s businesses, we discovered that they generally fall into one of the following profiles:

Trailblazers

Trailblazers are the companies that already have a formal digital transformation strategy in place and are actively digitizing. The good news is that about 57 percent of Asia Pacific businesses are in this category. If you are consistently pursuing your digital transformation programs, you are ahead of nearly half of the enterprises in the region.

However, this doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels. Some markets are more competitive. For instance, Hong Kong companies lead the charge with 63 percent of them having a digital transformation strategy. Meanwhile, Indian and Japanese markets are close behind at 61 percent. Be sure to maintain or improve your lead by finding new and better ways to digitize.

Siloed transformers

If your company is in the midst of digitizing but does not have a comprehensive plan, you are a siloed operator. In Singapore, 31 percent of companies fall into this category, followed by Australia (29 percent) and India (25 percent).

While digitizing part of your business is a good start, it is essential to extend these plans enterprise-wide in the future to reap the full benefits of digital transformation. Your current efforts will also offer valuable insights into the process, giving you a good idea of what works for your business and potential pitfalls to avoid in the future. Pay close attention to what your programs are telling you for a smoother journey in the coming phases.

Planners and researchers

The third class of enterprises is in the preparatory phases of digital transformation. They are either formalizing a plan or conducting the necessary research before embarking on them. In Japan, 22 percent of companies are at this stage. For China, 21 percent of businesses are in the planning phases.

However, over 70 percent of these companies will put their plans into action in the next two years. In fact, 44 percent of Chinese companies and 48 percent of Indian businesses will be ready to digitize in 2017. Planners and researchers that want to get to the next stage can seek consultation from an IT service provider experienced in digital transformation to review their needs and chart the best path forward.

Traditionalists

Enterprises that have no ongoing digital transformation strategy make up the minority in Asia Pacific. These traditionalists have yet to consider any plan to digitize their processes. Possible reasons could be due to more conventional ways of looking at IT or resource limitations. Traditionalists make up roughly 6 percent of businesses in Singapore, 5 percent in Japan, and 4 percent in China.

While every enterprise has the freedom to decide whether digital transformation is right for it, those that do not evolve are highly vulnerable to disruption. Over a third of companies in Asia Pacific say their sectors have been disrupted by digital technologies over the past three years. Hence, it is important to have a change in mindset in order to remain relevant and competitive in the coming years.

Partner with a reliable IT service provider regardless of your profile

Every digital transformation journey is unique. Like folding a piece of origami, every enterprise requires different steps and techniques to achieve their goals and see the results take shape. Whatever your profile, partner with a reliable IT service provider that can accelerate and secure your journey from start to finish.